Nightlights: Guardians of the Edge

1.11: Unforged Weapons

Ajax got back to it. The wooden sword felt strange in his hands, half a toy, half an illusion, the handle hard and unresponsive. He wondered that Natalie referred to it as a ‘real’ weapon. He remembered her katana. There had never been a blade more real than that. He felt like when he released the wooden sword, it should be the thing that vanished. But when Natalie knocked it out of his hand, it fell to the mat with a thud.

He scrambled after it, and a sound made him look over at Elian and Rohan, set up to spar between himself and the wall. They both had Stage 2 weapons out. Elian’s was at his side, but Rohan’s was in front of his face, and the bar of light that made up the blade was bulging.

“What?” said Natalie. “Oh, no. Rohan!”

“I can do it, Natalie…” said Rohan, distantly. “You never give me any credit…”

“I knew you could,” said Elian, his face glowing.

“Rohan, not here—Kwan!” But as Natalie spoke, the bar of light in Rohan’s hands pulsed and dissolved into a heavy, two-handed scimitar.

Rohan bared his teeth in a grin, swishing the weapon through the air. The blade cast a deep black shadow, far darker than the other shadows in the classroom.

“Where’s the glyph?” Ajax demanded. The blade flashed to white, then silver again, but the black shadow remained constant.

Natalie spoke low and quick, “He’s not ready. He’s not in control.”

“I didn’t think I could. I didn’t. Elian believed in me, though.” Rohan’s words tumbled over each other, his voice breathy and flat. “Elian always thinks he knows everything about me. There are some things Elian shouldn’t know, though. Nobody should know. But you look at me…”

Elian looked alarmed. “Eh? What? Rohan, bro, great job but you’re kind of freaking me out…” His own Stage 2 weapon flickered out of existence.

The shadow-light scimitar wavered through the air until it was pointing directly at Elian. Kwan’s voice came over Ajax’s shoulder, very quietly. “Move away, very slowly, Elian. Do it now.”

Elian stumbled backward as Kwan strode forward, putting his hand on Rohan’s shoulder. “Rohan, your anima is unbalanced. Open your hand and try again.” There was a clear tone of command in his voice, but Rohan didn’t seem to notice.

“Where’s Elian’s balance? Where’s Elian’s weapon? Why does he make me look inside when he doesn’t? What does he see? He’s always in the back of my head.” Rohan’s grip tightened on his sword. “Maybe if I cut him out there will be nothing to see.”

Elian, looking distinctly unnerved, turned to run. Three steps and he stumbled on the edge of the mat. Rohan threw his arm out, knocking Kwan’s arm away, and sprang after Elian. He was shockingly fast.

But Ajax was faster.

As Rohan’s shadow-light scimitar descended toward Elian, Ajax’s wooden sword caught it. The gleaming edge of the scimitar slid against the thin film of light sheathing the practice sword.

“Hey. Don’t be a jerk,” Ajax said, shoving the scimitar away. It descended again, and again he caught it. This time he pressed forward. Rohan’s eyes were bright and blank, like a predator’s. “It isn’t cool to attack the people who are kind to you.”

“I don’t deserve his kindness. I don’t want his pity. He knows—knows! what I want and it will only hurt him. I don’t want to hurt him…”

Ajax leaned close and whispered, “Then stop.”

Rohan’s eyes flickered. Then he opened his hands mechanically, and the scimitar dissolved. He staggered forward, then fell on Ajax. Ajax deposited him on the mat beside where Elian had regained his feet.

Rohan focused on Elian. “Sorry, man,” he croaked.

Elian said, “Hey, bro, you stopped. So no big deal.” A grin flickered across his solemn face. “My own fault for encouraging you. But it’s great to know you have such a high opinion of me…” He sat down beside Rohan.

Ajax faded back, rejoining Natalie beside Kwan. “What the hell just happened?” He realized Natalie was giving him a funny look. “What? Look—”

“You look! Look at your sword.”

He glanced at it, realized what the faint glow around it meant. “Woohoo. Stage 1. Now I’m on the same level as Jehane!”

Natalie swung her own wooden sword at him, furiously. He caught it just as he’d caught Rohan’s. “You idiot. Stage 1 doesn’t stop Stage 3. Ever. Wood doesn’t stop Stage 3. Sometimes steel doesn’t stop Stage 3.” She let go of the wooden sword and it dropped to the mat. For a moment Ajax wondered if she was going to summon her katana and demonstrate, but she just turned and stomped away to the water cooler.

Ajax looked around, hoping for somebody to give him an explanation. Kwan stared at him thoughtfully.

“I had to do something,” Ajax said.

“Yes, and thank you. But…. Congratulations on Stage 1. Work on understanding what you did. But, please, don’t work on Stage 2 until we’ve had time to make some observations.”

Ajax sputtered, then gave up on eloquence. “Huh?”

Kwan didn’t smile. “As I said, you’re dangerous. And weapons are dangerous. Now, you’ve seen one way how.”